Editing, excerpting, re-reporting by Carolyn Bennett
The United States massacred 39,000 people and injured 25, 000 with the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki August 9, 1945
The time has passed “for major powers to prevail in the world by military force.
“Conflicts must be settled through diplomatic and peaceful means.
“We support a world order of peace based on the U.N. Charter, as opposed to military alliances against imaginary enemies.”
The ‘nuclear deterrence’ policy must end as it spurs nuclear weapons acquisition and proliferation.
“In the 66th summer since the U.S. dropped atomic bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki, we renew our call on the world to take action to achieve a ‘nuclear weapon-free, peaceful and just world,’” says the international Declaration issued by the 2011 World Conference against A & H Bombs. This is some of the text of that declaration.
“As the call for a total ban and elimination of nuclear weapons is being shared by broader sections of people, including citizens, municipalities and national governments throughout the world, the question how to achieve a ‘nuclear weapon-free world’ comes into sharp focus.
The Final Document agreed upon at the 2010 NPT Review Conference resolved to achieve a “nuclear weapon-free world,” and called for a special effort to reach that goal. …Many international organizations such as the Mayors for Peace have started serious work on a nuclear weapons convention as an important step towards the abolition of nuclear weapons. We have been working around the world to urge the nuclear powers and all other governments to start negotiations for a nuclear weapons convention.…
“Although the agreements reached to date should have been duly implemented, no significant progress has been made.
“Countries with nuclear weapons are particularly to be held accountable for this stalemate. The repeated subcritical nuclear tests conducted by the U.S. Obama Administration contradict its own pledge, as well as the spirit of these international agreements.
“As long as ‘nuclear deterrence’ policy persists, ‘peace and security in a nuclear weapon-free world’ cannot be achieved. Instead it provides incentives to acquire nuclear weapons to counter that policy and causes nuclear proliferation. … We reiterate our demand for a clean break from ‘nuclear deterrence’ policy by all nations.…
“As the movement that originates from the tragedies of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and calls for the abolition of nuclear weapons — we are deeply concerned about the severity and scope of radioactive contamination and damage caused by the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. It revealed the deceit of the ‘safety myth’ and the danger of nuclear power plants. It is possible to secure energy sources for sustainable development without recourse to nuclear power and without leaving a dangerous burden to future generations. Let us develop solidarity with the movements in Japan and the rest of the world demanding the decommissioning of nuclear energy and a shift to renewable energy sources.
“Japan’s peace movement demands that, as the A-bombed country, its government should play due role in concluding a nuclear weapons convention.
“It also demands the abrogation of the secret agreements with the U.S., which allow nuclear weapons to be brought into Japan, as well as the strict observance of the Three Non-Nuclear Principles.
“It calls for the dismantling of U.S. military bases in Japan, including the U.S. Marine Corps Futenma Air Station in Okinawa, and opposes the deployment and port-calls of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and other warships.
“We express our support to the Japanese peace movement in its effort for Japan to break away from the U.S. nuclear umbrella and achieve a nuclear-free Japan, and to defend and honor Article 9 of the Constitution of Japan.
“Although wars and gunfire continue in different parts of the world — it is no longer time for major powers to prevail in the world by military force. Opposing the threat or use of force, we demand that conflicts be settled through diplomatic and peaceful means. We support a world order of peace based on the U.N. Charter, as opposed to military alliances against imaginary enemies.
“We extend our warm solidarity to the peoples in North African and Arab countries who stand for freedom, democracy and human dignity. We demand the cessation of NATO’s attack on Libya and a ceasefire, and a political solution of the issue.
“We oppose the occupation of Iraq and the military operations in Afghanistan and demand the withdrawal of all foreign military forces. Our support goes also to the struggle for the right of the Palestinians to national self-determination, including the right to establish an independent state.
“We oppose foreign military bases, and stand in solidarity with the movements for the defense of the national sovereignty and for the removal of such bases. We work in solidarity with the movements for relief from war damage, including the victims of Agent Orange.
“We call on the people of the world to take the following actions:
- · To develop many forms of international, regional and national actions to press for the start of negotiations on a nuclear weapons convention, including the signature campaign for the ‘Appeal for a Total Ban on Nuclear Weapons,’ and present the achievements of these initiatives to the U.N. General Assemblies and in the next review process of the NPT.
- · To strengthen the movement in each country and region for the removal of nuclear arms and for nuclear-free zones, and develop campaigns and public support for the overcoming of the ‘nuclear deterrence’ policies.
- · To strengthen our activities for the relief, solidarity and support of the Hibakusha of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and all nuclear test and radiation victims, to root out any more damage and suffering from radiation. Noting the link between nuclear weapons and nuclear power generation, we oppose military use of nuclear technology and demand an end to the reliance on nuclear energy and a shift to renewable energy sources, and we will work in firm solidarity with the broad range of movements.
“The achievement of a ‘nuclear weapon-free, peaceful and just world’ is the common desire of all who work for peace and against war. It is shared by many people who strive for democracy; human rights; protection of the global environment; women’s rights and status; resolution of such issues as hunger, poverty, unemployment, illiteracy and injustice; and for a drastic reduction of military expenditure and armaments and improved social welfare.
“To achieve this shared goal and to open a new era, let us take bold steps forward, together with the Hibakusha and with young people, who bear the future of humanity.”
Sources and notes
August 5, 2011 International Meeting — 2011 World Conference against A & H Bombs
Declaration of the International Meeting
http://www.beyondnuclear.org/storage/japan/Hiroshima_Fukushima_2011%20World%20Conference%20against%20A%20%20H%20Bombs.pdf
http://www.beyondnuclear.org/home/2011/8/5/hiroshima-world-conference-against-a-h-bombs-declaration.html
Hibakusha (“those who were bombed”)
In Hiroshima, at least 66,000 people were incinerated in an instant, at least 30,000 three days later when [the U.S.] used a second bomb on Nagasaki. Exact casualty figures are impossible to state, because population records turned to ash along with the record-keepers, and radiation caused many deaths.
Most survivors have been struggling with radiation-related illness for much of their lies, and death will surely have silenced the majority of them by the seventieth anniversary of the bombing in 2015.
Tadatoshi Akiba, a former math professor at Tufts, published an article in 1983, which calculated that, by 1950, 200,000 people had died as result of the bomb on Hiroshima; another 140,000 had died in Nagasaki. Nearly all were civilians — only 150 Japanese military were killed.
Thirty-four years after the atomic blast at Hiroshima, Akihiro Takahashi, one of Japan’s most conspicuous ‘hibakusha’ became director of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum.
http://www.aasc.ucla.edu/cab/200712090011.html
TODAY IN HISTORY
The United States of America on August 9, 1945 dropped the second atomic bomb on Japan striking the city of Nagasaki.
Under a program called the Manhattan Project, the United States built the first atomic bombs
The first atomic bomb to be used in warfare used uranium. The United States dropped this bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, on August 6, 1945.
66,000 people died immediately
69,000 were injured
The force instantly and completely devastated 10 square kilometers (4 square miles) of the heart of Hiroshima, a city of 343,000 inhabitants.
more than 67 percent of the city’s structures were destroyed or damaged.
The second atomic bomb was of the plutonium type. The U.S. dropped this atomic bomb on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945
39,000 people died
25,000 suffered injuries
40 percent (est.) of the city’s structures were destroyed or seriously damaged
The United States after World War II conducted dozens of test explosions of atomic bombs in the Pacific at Enewetak (Eniwetok) atoll and in Nevada.
The first atomic bomb (using plutonium) the U.S. tested near Alamogordo, New Mexico, a site 120 miles south of Albuquerque, New Mexico, on July 16, 1945.
Britannica
Articles also at Bringing Women a Global Voice: http://www.worldpulse.com/pulsewire Bennett's books available in New York State independent bookstores: Lift Bridge Bookshop: www.liftbridgebooks.com [Brockport, NY]; Sundance Books: http://www.sundancebooks.com/main.html [Geneseo, NY]; The Book Den, Ltd.: BookDenLtd@frontiernet.net [Danville, NY]; Talking Leaves Books-Elmwood: talking.leaves.elmwood@gmail.com [Buffalo, NY]; Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza: http://www.bhny.com/ [Albany, NY]; Mood Makers Books: www.moodmakersbooks.com [City of Rochester, NY]; Dog Ears Bookstore and Literary Arts Center: www.enlightenthedog.org/ [Buffalo, NY]; Burlingham Books – ‘Your Local Chapter’: http://burlinghambooks.com/ [Perry, NY 14530]; The Bookworm: http://www.eabookworm.com/ [East Aurora, NY]; LONGS’ Cards and Books: http://longscardsandbooks.com/ [Penn Yan, NY]
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